Candidates vie for seats on Alamo Colleges board, school districts

SAN ANTONIO — Ready for more elections? Three seats on the Alamo Colleges board of trustees have drawn eight candidates, and voters May 10 also will decide trustee and bond elections in the Alamo Heights, North East, Southwest and Northside independent school districts.

Only one of three seats up for election in North East ISD is contested after board President Susan Galindo withdrew her candidacy Monday afternoon.

That left Sandi Wolff, wife of Bexar County Commissioner Kevin Wolff and daughter-in-law of County Judge Nelson Wolff, unopposed for the District 3 seat. Wolff, 44, is a senior strategy analyst for the San Antonio Water System.

District 7 trustee Brigitte Perkins, 60, a Realtor, drew no challenger. District 2 incumbent Edd White, 77, who retired from the Texas Rehabilitation Commission in 1995 and was elected 18 years ago as North East ISD's first African-American trustee, drew a challenge from Bob Coster, a home remodeler, 58.

Northside voters also will decide a $648 million bond package that would finance the construction of six new schools, though more than half of it is devoted to upgrading existing campuses. Most of the new campuses, including a high school, would be in the growing neighborhoods in the southwestern portion of the district, near Northside's boundary with Medina Valley ISD.

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The proposal wouldn't set a record. In 2007, voters approved a $692.7 million bond. All 21 Northside bond proposals since 1949 have passed except for one in 1992. District officials have asked for a bond every three years since 1995, but saved enough with the 2010 bond to wait an extra year.

Voters in Alamo Colleges' single-member Districts 4, 8 and 9 will pick trustees for a six-year term. District 4 trustee Marcelo Casillas, first elected to the board in 2002, did not file for re-election.

Three candidates are vying for that seat, which represents part of the Southwest Side. They are Albert R. Herrera, 41, a business manager who lives in Atascosa; Enedina “Exon” Kikuyu, 57, a community organizer; and Lorena “Lorraine” Pulido, 43, a public relations manager for the city of San Antonio who also teaches at Texas A&M University-San Antonio, according to election filings. On Wednesday, a fourth candidate, student Genevieve Trinidad, 55, withdrew from the race, according to election filings.

The candidates for District 8 on the North Side include incumbent Gary Beitzel, 73. An Air Force veteran and civil service retiree, he was first elected in 2002, according to his Alamo Colleges biography.

Beitzel is being challenged by Steve Gonzales, 44, a civil engineer who lives in Hollywood Park, and Clint Kingsbery, 34, an educator.

Alamo Colleges board President James “Jim” Rindfuss, 76, has filed for re-election in District 9, which encompasses part of the city's Northeast Side. An attorney living in Universal City, he was first elected to the board in 1996.

He faces a challenge by Felix Grieder, 60, a process engineer who also lives in Universal City, according to his filing.

In Alamo Heights ISD, Place 3 trustee Lynn Thompson, 55, filed for re-election and drew no challengers. She did not list an occupation. The Place 4 seat being vacated by trustee Mike Morell drew one candidate, community volunteer Margaret Judson, 52. Board members are elected at-large for three-year terms.

In Southwest ISD, longtime trustee and school board President Mike C. Frazier, 69, and Yolanda Garza-Lopez, 47, are facing an at-large re-election challenge from political newcomer Johnathon Cruz, a 23-year-old child-support officer. Frazier, a former Northside ISD educator and school counselor, has been on the board for 34 years. Garza-Lopez, listed as a community volunteer and child advocate in her filings, has served for six years. The two candidates who get the most votes will serve two-year terms.

Jennifer R. Lloyd covers higher education issues and scientific research for the San Antonio Express-News. She joined the Express-News in 2008 to cover pop culture and young adult issues under the umbrella of the features section. After transitioning to the metro section in 2009, she covered general assignments as well as San Antonio’s North Side and Comal County before joining the education team. She previously covered K-12 education, focusing on the city’s largest school districts. Born into a military family, she grew up traveling the world and exploring different cultures. She earned her bachelor’s degree in communication from the University of Washington in Seattle and her master’s degree in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. Prior to coming to the Express-News, she covered arts and nonprofits for the Victoria Advocate and worked as a reporting intern for the Seattle Times and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. She has also taught journalism courses at the university level.